Sanspo filed a report this morning that claims Senichi Hoshino met with Hanshin Tigers' chairperson Nobuo Minami a few days before team owner Shinya Sakai met with Rakuten Eagles' chairperson Hiroshi Mikitani on 10/4. The Sanspo report also mentions that Minami apparently didn't try to hard to persuade Hoshino from leaving, which is something of a complete 180 in comparison to how the club treated Hoshino back in 2005 when he was rumored to be a candidate for the Yomiuri Giants' managing position.

And all this means the meeting that's supposed to take place between Hoshino and Sakai, sometime on or around the 12th, could be just for show, more than anything else.